Military personnel, such as marines and army soldiers, and emergency personnel face significant challenges during aircraft pick up and drop off operations. These challenges can be particularly difficult when aircraft are used in a war zone. For instance, when military personnel are on a mission and need to be picked up by a helicopter in a fairly quick manner, the personnel have to indicate a desired possible Landing Zone (LZ) for an inbound helicopter that is to be sent to resupply them or pick them up and take them back to a safe location (e.g., a local military base).
Challenges for military personnel include accurately knowing the location of the desired LZ and communicating that location to the helicopter without having to use a specialized device (that is, by using only the normal equipment that a military personnel takes on a mission).
Given that military personnel in a war zone typically are burdened with having to carry a lot of equipment on a mission, it is desirable to not have them carry additional equipment for use in designating a desired landing zone for an aircraft that is to be sent to pick them up and take them back to a safe location. Along these same lines, it is desirable that military aircraft in a war zone, such as helicopters, not have to carry additional components for finding a desired landing zone and determining an appropriate path to the desired landing zone.